Early pregnancies among middle school students: Attribution of blame and the feelings of responsibility among teachers and parents.

Abstract

Globally, 15% of adolescents give birth before turning 18, leading to considerable personal, social, and medical impacts on adolescents and to the general society. This study aimed at exploring and comparing three psychological attributes (i.e., empathetic concern, feelings of responsibility, and attribution of blame) between parents and teachers for the phenomena. 672 teachers (54% females) and 690 parents (53% female) participated in the study. The results indicated a significant mean difference between parents and teachers on empathy (t = 5.735, p < 0.001), attribution of blame (t = 6.902, p < 0.001), and feelings of responsibility (t = 1.727, p < 0.001). Except for attribution of blame, parents' mean scores of other variables were higher than that of teachers. Teachers' higher attribution of blame to pregnant adolescents and lower empathetic concern raises a prominent concern over students' healthy environment at school. Understanding social feelings about responsibilities over adolescents' general health is very essential, especially for fighting against the problem of early pregnancy.